Hello From the Kingston Cyclists' group

If you're interested in cycling issues in Kingston please read -up at our website www.kingstoncyclists.org.uk . We try to put new stories on our News page every week to keep people informed.

Cycle lanes, tracks etc: We regularly meet Kingston Council to promote better cycle lanes, tracks, shared paths and the like. At long last a shared-use path on Queen Elizabeth Road (i.e. near Tiffin Boys' School) is on the cards, a contra-flow in Albert Road (London Road to Fairfield corner), and Wood Street may soon be shared use (round the back of Bentalls). If you know of things that are wrong and need sorting please post on this forum, contact Kingston Cyclists and/or contact the Council directly.

Thefts: We monitor the number of bike thefts reported to the police and keep banging on to the Council and Police about the problem. 478 thefts were reported to the Met police in 2010. We're getting somewhere with increasing the level of awareness of the issue. Soon we expect to see stickers on the bike racks showing how to lock bikes more securely. Norbiton Station should soon have a new secure compound (because we asked for it) like the ones at Surbiton and Kingston stations.

Bike Rides: We style our rides 'Bread Pudding Rides' because John Dunn produces a home made bread pudding to share with participants. The destinations for rides isn't pre-determined because our ride leader Roger takes into account the weather conditions, how many riders there are, what experience they have etc. Typically rides are about 30 miles long and last from 10:30 to 4pm on a Sunday. We also run some 'Challenge Rides' that need a bit more stamina and some evening rides too which are shorter due to time constraints (bring lights for those).

Promoting cycling: Our group does our bit to help. We run maintenance classes to help those who want to know more about their bikes - and have peace of mind. We have done promotions such as lights giveaways - free bike lights for those without them, and we've stopped people in the street and talked about the sort of locks they are using.

If you would like to get involved we'd love you to join in with any/ all of these activities.